Caribbean Tourism Conference to Zero In on Sustaining Coastal Product

The sustainability of the Caribbean coastal product will be the main focus of the 10th Annual Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development, also known as the Sustainable Tourism Conference (STC-10), to be held in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, next April.

The conference, which will run from April 28 to May 1, has as its theme, Keeping the Right Balance – Sustaining the Caribbean Coastal Product. This is in keeping with the designation of 2008 as International Year of the Reef by the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI).

“Given that the region’s tourism development is largely coastal there are number of key related issues that affect the sustainability of the region’s tourism,” said Mareba Scott, CTO’s sustainable tourism product specialist, “like climate change, disaster risk management, cruise tourism and the and marine based attractions including the implications for the dive market.”

A comprehensive and dynamic program is being planned, to include the customary study tours –a key feature of this conference- one of which will be to the world’s only conch farm.